Thunder 5 Ranch

The Thunder 5 Ranch is a traditional family owned and operated farm/ranch that produces Beef, Pork, Poultry, Eggs, Fruit and produce. Our Animals are heritage breeds that include Irish Dexter Cattle, Old Spot Hogs, Hereford Hogs, and Large Black Hogs and crosses between the breeds. Our eggs are produced by French Copper Marans, Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons, Americuanas, and Plymouth Barred Rocks. Our Broilers are obtained from the cockrels of the heritage breed chickens. All animals are raised in a multi-species rotational pasture based system with a strong emphasis on working with nature and not against her also know as Permaculture. I do not believe in 3rd party certifications such as Organic or Animal Welfare Approved. What I do Believe in is a strong open gate policy and full transparency with the folks we serve. Our gardens comprise 4 acres of the T5R 10%, and we produce everything from apples to Zucchini with ZERO chemicals or 'Cides. The closest we come to insecticide is Diatomecious Earth (DE). The fertilizers used are very well composted manures from the livestock that are born and finished here. While we are traditional in the true sense of the word we do make use of modern things that enhance and cause no harm such as modern electric fence chargers, tractors, Etc. There still is no shortage of manual labor that goes into our production. We have an active internship program that consist of 3 months with the opportunity to become a T5R apprentice for 12 months and finally Permanent part of the T5R staff after the Apprentice phase. During the Internship and Apprentice portions room, board, utilities and a $50 per week cash stipened is offered. In return the interns learn the basics of a succesful small farm operation and the apprentices spend a year getting more into the nuts and bolts of how everything works over the course of a full year. We offer our products at farmers markets, our on farm store, direct weekly deliveries to Marion, Carbondale, and Mt. Vernon IL. and through our Thunder 5 Ranch Members Club/CSA. We also offer whole hogs for freezer pork. While many other small farms come and go or worse are not dependable the Thunder 5 Ranch has been operating for 12 year and has grown from a small eggs producer into one of the best known and trusted farm to fork producers in Southern IL.